Another Two and a Half Months of Wet Season to Go

Around this time last year there was so much rain coming down in the Province of Panama houses were sliding down slopes and rivers were overflowing throughout the country displacing people in the low-lying areas.  Once again this year, the government agency SINAPROC (the civil protection agency) is monitoring the heavy rain and overflowing rivers and preparing to aid those affected.

October and November are the two wettest months in Panama.  Something that we become accustomed to until the wind shifts in December bringing the dry air with it.  Some days we wake up to sunshine and then by afternoon the rain will come in from the ocean with a vengeance.  These days are not filled with much thunder and lightning, just loud pounding rain, which makes it seem like rivers are flowing over the clay tiles on the roof, creating waterfalls.  One moment it seems like the rain is slowing down and the next it is pounding harder.  This is one of the reasons that SU wanted to build a concrete drainage ditch out front.

Dos Gatos have no wish to be outside, they settle in on their shelf in front of the window, watching the rain fall.  Or in Boomer’s case he will crawl into a kitchen cupboard to wait for the rain to stop.

The martins that were swooping over the back campo when the sky started to cloud over move to the front power lines to hunker down until the water stops pounding their wings.  After a while only the heartiest stay in the deluge.

Even the drainage that SU put in our back fence can’t stop the water from accumulating in the back yard.  The new neighbor’s yard doesn’t fair well with the inundation of water that turns it into a big mud pit.

This time of year it is getting cooler in North America, the leaves are falling and the snow will follow shortly.  This is when we find gratitude in the rain showers and the greenness it brings to the campo.  As I travelled about yesterday afternoon I saw people walking in rubber boots with paraguas and others walking about with rain coats.  I saw one woman walking around with no shoes at all; after all what was the point?  I saw several people trying to sweep the flowing water away from their houses as it flowed towards them.    But my favorite sight of all was the group of three young boys, playing soccer in the slippery grass, in the torrential downpour; one of them in his underwear, demonstrating that life goes on, even in Rainy Season.

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